This is a shot I took out the window looking down on Anchorage. You can see the airport and downtown Anchorage beyond that. We were banking right to land and it seemed like a good chance to capture what the area looks like.

I headed north from Anchorage after reading there were several things to see in that direction. First stop was a dirt road drive up a hill to a ski resort. There was supposed to be an excellent view of the city and Mt. McKinley.

left - wooo!  off-roadin!!!
middle - nice view I stopped at on the way up.
right - fear my mean off-roadin Kia!

I call this picture "find Mt.McKinley". Do you see it? Ya.. Niether did I.. It overlooks downtown Anchorage (tall buildings in the distance) in the opposite direction that the plane shot was taken above.

Ok this was pretty sweet.. I was driving up towards the Chugash state park to do some hiking and along the way was a little lake with people staring at it. Sure enough there was a moose in the middle of it drinking water! Pretty cool..

Once at the state park, I hit a trail that takes you towards a viewing dock..
left - a shot of the trail.. missing my mountain bike about now..
middle left - at the viewing dock looking east.
middle right - at the viewing dock looking west.. getting better at this timer thing huh?
right - left the viewing dock, heading east down crow trail which leads to a portion of the valley where the ididorad dog sled race goes.

left - cruising down the trail it turns into this wood walkway cutting over rather swampy land.. 
right - DOH! end of the road.. or is it? this is where the dog sled comes through actually but I couldn't go further for obvious reasons. The race comes from the right in the picture and goes down straight ahead.

ha! stupid puddle isn't going to keep me from going where I'm heading! I went a ways further but thing's weren't that interesting so I turned back. On my way back I came around a bend and there was a huge moose with antlers in the middle of the trail some 100 feet away. Jeez they are huge! Scared the crap out of me! I was a good mile out from the visitors center and there weren't many people on this trail. I backed up and waited for him to move on.. Wish I'd have taken a shot of him.. too busy wiping myself :) On the way back I passed a couple who were hiking down the trail with a big dog. The guy also had a firearm in a holster on his chest. I figure he must be a local.. =)

After Chugach State Park I headed up the road to Thunderbird Falls. It was supposedly a light 1 mile hike to the base of some falls. Sounded good!
left - beginning of the trail.. up the hill I go..
middle - typical view off the side of the trail
right - thinking of my mountain bike again..

left - The falls themselves.. Not exactly Yosemite huh?
middle - another trail shot.. someone take the camera from that guy
right - bottom of the falls

So thats it for now! Tomorrow I go looking for a kodiak or polar bear.. I figure I can find a mom/cub and distract the mom by throwing some food in one direction then grab the cub and run in the other.. Wish me luck!

click here for day two of my trip (sunday)!